'Arrow': Despite Black Canary costume, Laurel is far from a hero

Laurel may be suiting up in a new Black Canary costume, but Arrow fans be warned: The novice is far from being a hero.

Driven by revenge, Laurel (Katie Cassidy) has been desperate to take up the mantle of the Black Canary following the death of her sister Sara (Caity Lotz), inching her closer and closer to fulfilling her comic book destiny—something fans of the graphic novels have been eagerly awaiting since the show’s inception. But she may be putting the cart before the horse when she finally suits up.

“Just because you put on a mask and a costume doesn’t mean you’re a superhero,” executive producer Marc Guggenheim tells EW. “A mask does not a hero make. We’re really at the beginning of Laurel’s journey to becoming the Black Canary, not the end by virtue of the fact that she’s put on a costume.”

Therefore, when Laurel does finally go out to fight crime, “It’s not like Arrow [Stephen Amell], Arsenal [Colton Haynes] or Diggle [David Ramsey] going out into the field,” he says. “She gets punched, she gets hit, she gets injured. When she throws a punch, she doesn’t always connect. When she jumps off of something, she doesn’t always land on two feet. She’s a much more rougher and realistic kind of crime fighter.”

“I’m loath to even call her a hero at this point because I don’t think she’s earned that title yet, though she certainly wants to,” Guggenheim continues. “There’s going to be a continuing process of evolution with her despite the fact that she’s now in costume.”